Video Game Delivery Project

CIS 615 Dr. Catanio

Company: SmartGames

Project Team: Shweta Somalwar – Project Manager Danielle Vermitsky – Team Member Loc Nguyen – Team Member Shawn Hopkins – Team Member Anthony De Marzio – Team Member

of 13 CIS 615 Dr. Catanio

Table of Contents

Project Charter (Updated)...... 3 Project Scope Statement...... 5 Work Breakdown Structure...... 8 Gantt chart...... 10 Scope Verification Strategy...... 11 Change Control Strategy...... 12

Project Charter (Updated)

Project Title: Video Game Delivery Project Project Start Date: February 9, 2009 Projected Finish Date: February 9, 2010 Budget Information: The company (SmartGames) has allocated $500,000 for this project.

Project Manager: Shweta Somalwar, 215-123-4567, [email protected]

Project Objectives: . Develop a web-based application and support structure within 12 months for a video game rental program that is platform free. . To provide the rental of educational and sports-related video games, with information and products available in several different languages, to ultimately meet untapped customer needs. . Enable the capability for external vendors/partners to create and display advertisements on the website for a fee.

Approach: . Communicate with the project sponsor on a weekly basis regarding the status reports, updates, and project plan/approach. . Research the e-commerce technology in regards to online video game rentals. . Develop a user-friendly e-commerce website. . Develop a support system that will handle user accounts, data/inventory storage and management, payment processing, package/product tracking, referral tracking, etc. . Research, select and integrate online payment methods, along with school payment systems. . Research and integrate the shipping company’s methods for envelope tracking and processing. . Research software to provide security, customer reviews/inputs capability, the ability to display advertisements, and manage/track referrals from corporate partners/customers. . Conduct testing of the system. . Launch the website, while marketing the new service to an international audience. . Establish a method to measure the activity, the value, and the profitability of the online service periodically.

Roles and Responsibilities Role Name Organization/ Contact Information Position Project Sponsor Lori VP of Marketing Lori@ SmartGames.com

Project Manager Manager SSomalwar@ Shweta Somalwar SmartGames.com Team Member IT Professional DVermitsky@ Danielle Vermitsky SmartGames.com Team Member IT Professional LNguyen@ Loc Nguyen SmartGames.com Team Member Marketing Specialist SHopkins@ Shawn Hopkins SmartGames.com Team Member Anthony De Marzio Purchasing Specialist ADeMarzio@ SmartGames.com

Sign-off: (Signatures have been recorded by names in table above.)

Comments: “We need to be mindful of how our servers are setup so that the users can have a full interactive e-commerce experience online, while implementing methods in order to minimize down time and sluggish performance”. –Loc Nguyen

Project Scope Statement

Project Title: Video Game Delivery Project Date: February 23, 2009 Prepared by: Shweta Somalwar, Project Manager, (215)123-4567, [email protected] Project Justification: As a result of SmartGames’ market research, the VP of Marketing (who is also the project sponsor), suggested that the company can meet untapped customer needs by providing a monthly video game rental program over the Internet. In a competitive environment, the new Web-based application and support structure will allow the company to enter a new industry as an e-commerce vendor but focus on a specific market segment by providing platform-free, educational and sports-related video games only. This will enable the company to earn revenue by charging its customers a membership/subscription fee, and generate profits by providing a forum for advertisements. . Product Characteristics and Requirements: 1. User accounts: Customers will be allowed to create online accounts, and will be able to login with a username and password. 2. Monthly plan: The system will allow the customers to rent video games on a monthly rental basis. 3. Payment methods: Customer will be provided with multiple payment methods, including credit or debit cards, check, school payment systems, etc. The processing of credit cards and user transactions will be handled through a payment gateway. 4. Search capabilities: The system will allow customers to search for specific video games by system platform, age group, gender appropriateness, customer reviews, video game category, language, etc. 5. Order and track games: Customers will be allowed to place orders for video games by adding them to their queues. They will also be able to track their orders and returns shipped via express mail. 6. Write reviews: Authorized users will be allowed to write and submit their reviews for any and all video games they rent. 7. International market: Customers will be allowed to order select video games (and related information) from several different languages. 8. Ubiquity: The Web-based application will be accessible on the Internet by users from anywhere and at anytime. It will be available for use 24 hours a day, 7 days week, with specific amount of time each week designated for system maintenance and updates. 9. Personalization: The system will track customer usage patterns, which can be utilized in the future to target marketing messages to specific customers based on their purchase history, patterns and interests. 10. Affiliate program: SmartGames will gain exposure from other websites that steer business to SmartGames (the affiliate); thus the system will track referrals to the site from corporate partners and customers. 11. Display Advertisements: The system will allow corporate partners and customers to add their advertisements to be displayed on the site for a fee.

12. Security: The system will provide various levels of security, such as enabling authentication for user accounts, and SSL encryption for session IDs and sensitive customer data. With the help of ABC Corp.’s senior consultant, additional protection and security features, such as firewalls, event logging, and privacy tools, etc. will be applied to the Web-based application and the support structure.

Summary of Project Deliverables Project management-related deliverables: business case, charter, team contract, scope statement, WBS, schedule, cost baseline, status reports, final project presentation, final project report, lessons-learned report, and any other documents required to manage the project. Product-related deliverables: (following are mandatory) technical design documents, software code, hardware, etc. 1. Research reports – (mandatory) review of current systems, databases, hardware and products to support Internet rentals. (optional) Market and Competitive Analysis reports. (optional) Best practices for monitoring and processing user feedback. 2. Inventory database – (mandatory) prepare database to display listings, categories and descriptions online and in different languages. 3. Weighted Scoring Models – (optional) to compare system features; (optional) compare off-the-shelf solutions against in-house development; (optional) compare hardware or other technical solutions. 4. Website design and layout – (nice to have) document user business process flow into and through new website as well as integration points with existing website(s). 5. Website content documentation – (nice to have) detailed descriptions for each page containing layout and content including text, images, details, etc. 6. FAQ – (mandatory) frequently asked questions section for users regarding accounts, plans, payments, orders, rentals, etc. 7. User Accounts – (mandatory) the system will include a registration application for users to create accounts that will allow them to become members. It will also include a login page for users to enter their username and password which will allow them to access their accounts and order video games. 8. Monthly Plan – (mandatory) the system will include a description of the monthly plan(s), along with the relevant monthly prices. 9. Track orders – (mandatory) the system will include a capability that will enable customers to track their delivered and returned video games. 10. Submit reviews – (mandatory) the system will include an application that will allow users to write and submit reviews on the video games they rented. 11. International selection – (mandatory) the system will include a list of numerous video games available in several different languages. 12. Advertisements– (mandatory) the system will include a forum for corporate partners and customers to advertise through the site. 13. Legal disclaimer – (mandatory) post any required legal statements and require user acknowledgement as necessary. 14. Test plan – (optional) document how the Internet Rental System will be tested, and who will be responsible for testing and modifying the system. 15. Partnership plan – (optional) for marketing advertisements via the system to enable

businesses to list us as affiliates, and for other partnership programs. 16. Marketing plan – (mandatory) market the service to cater to the specific market segment 17. Project benefit measurement plan – (optional) measure the financial value of the Internet Rental System.

Project Success Criteria: Our goal is to complete this project within twelve months for no more than $500,000. To ensure the video game delivery project is successful, the web-application must be developed to cater to the specific market segment and the user interface must be intuitive and easy-to- use. Our collaboration with Edsys must be successful as well in terms of developing enough partnership programs and implementing appropriate marketing strategies. Ultimately, the project will be deemed successful if the project is completed within twelve months, meets or exceeds the project objectives, and deliverables are completed and submitted on time.

Work Breakdown Structure

1.0 Project Planning and Concept 1.1 Scope Management 1.2 Milestone: Scope defines 1.3 Schedule Management 1.3.1 Timeline for project from start to finish 1.3.2 Identify resources and availability 1.3.2.1 ABC Corp’s. Senior Consultant Guarav 1.3.2.2 Edsys’s Senior Consultant Julie 1.3.2.3 Two IT Professionals (In house) 1.3.2.4 Two Marketing Specialists (In House) 1.3.2.5 One Purchasing Specialist (In house) 1.3.3 Milestone: Project Plan created and Staffing done 1.4 Create initial estimate of cost 1.5 Task management 1.6 Research existing systems 2.0 Systems Engineering 2.1 Review business requirements 2.2 Technical planning 2.3 Milestone: Systems engineering done 2.4 System requirements 2.4.1 Identify hardware and software needs 2.4.2 Milestone: hardware requirements done 3.0 Development 3.1 Hardware 3.1.1 Hardware analysis and planning based on requirements 3.1.2 Select vendor and purchase hardware 3.1.3 Install and configure hardware along with software 3.1.4 Milestone: Hardware and software installed done 3.2 Software requirements 3.2.1 Prototyping 3.2.1.1 Customize web-based application from ABC corp. 3.2.2 Milestone: Prototype done 3.2.3 High level design 3.2.3.1 Website layout 3.2.3.2 Milestone: high level design approved 3.2.3.3 Website content 3.2.3.3.1 Game rental descriptions 3.2.3.3.2 Payment plans 3.2.3.3.3 FAQ and help 3.2.3.3.4 Legal disclaimer 3.2.3.3.5 Login and profile 3.2.3.3.6 Game library page

3.3 Coding 3.3.1 Detailed design 3.3.2 Milestone: Detailed design done and approved 3.3.3 Development 3.3.3.1 Game rental descriptions 3.3.3.2 Payment plans 3.3.3.3 FAQ and help 3.3.3.4 Legal disclaimer 3.3.3.5 Login and profile 3.3.3.6 Game library page 3.3.4 Execute unit testing 3.3.5 Milestone: coding done and deployed to test environment 3.4 Quality Assurance Testing 3.4.1 Create test plans 3.4.2 Create test cases 3.4.3 Execute integration testing 3.4.4 Execute regression testing 3.4.5 Execute load testing 3.4.6 Test summary 3.4.7 Milestone: Quality assurance testing done 3.5 Support Services 3.5.1 Configuration management documents 3.5.2 Training 3.6 Installation and Deployment 3.6.1 “Go Live’ plans 3.6.1.1 Work with Edsys on marketing plans 3.6.2 Deploy to production 3.6.3 Smoke test production 3.6.4 Milestone: Website ready for usage

Gantt chart

E:\ITPM\Group As. 2\ CIS 615 C3 Task 3 Gantt Chart PDF.pdf

Scope Verification Strategy

Introduction: The purpose of this document is to formalize an acceptance of the project scope for the Video Game Delivery project. To meet this acceptance, key stakeholders, such as the customer and sponsor must review then sign-off on approved deliverables, change requests, and recommended actions. If such deliverables are not accepted, it is generally the user or sponsor to request changes that will call for corrective actions in the project.

Verification: It is essential to consult with configuration management specialists because they are an integral part of the overall project. It is their task to ensure products are completed and correct by reviewing, identifying, and documenting any and all functional and physical characteristics of the Video Game Delivery project’s products, record/report any changes, and to maintain an audit for verification of conformance to the scope. It is essential to execute verification procedures correctly in order to minimize the impact of scope changes in the project.

Please see figure 1 for scope verification process.

Key Inputs include:  Project scope management plan

 Deliverables

 Project scope statement

 WBS

 WBS dictionary Tools & Techniques:  Inspection/Testing of deliverables to assure project satisfaction

 Auditing current deliverables/work results against project scope statement

 Signing off of scope verification process Key Outputs include:  Accepted deliverables

 Requested changes

 Recommended corrective actions

Figure 1

Scope Inputs Tools Outputs Verification 1. Project scope 1. Inspection/Testing 1. Accepted management plan 2. Auditing deliverables 2. Deliverables 3. Sign off 2. Requested 3. Project scope changes statement 3. Recommended 4. WBS corrective actions 5. WBS dictionary Change Control Strategy

One of the components of the overall project management plan is the change control strategy, which is a formal documented process that is crucial to create and maintain when changes to the official project documents need to be made. The change control strategy requires a change control board, which usually includes the project manager, sponsor and other managers from different departments (marketing, sales, etc.) and vendors to be involved in the process, along with configuration management. All changes will be communicated among the board members and team members via e-mail, cell phone, and the Web.

The following items should be included to ensure change control planning and management are accounted for throughout the life of the project:

 Change control management plan

o Requirements

o Schedule

o Budget

o Project status report

 Change request form includes the following:

o Project name

o Date request submitted

o Title of change request

o Change order number

o Submitted by (name and contact information)

o Change category

o Description of change requested

o Events that made change necessary or desirable

o Justification for change

o Impact of proposed change

o Suggested implementation once approved

o Required approvals

 Change control log

o Summarizes the list of current change requests and provides the information necessary for project status reporting

o Enables prioritization of change requests

o Logs the historical representation of each change request

 Communication plan

o Recurring meetings

o Notification plan

o Performance reports

The scope for this project has been outlined and the project justification states that due to the market research this project will meet untapped customer needs once launched, close to 12 months from start date with key milestones already set. Initial estimates for this project consists of $500,000 budget with half of which must be utilized for hardware and the outsourced software and consulting services. Important deliverables listed in the project deliverables will be created and distributed as promised. If any changes to the project are realized, the project manager will take the responsibility to follow the appropriate change control process in ensuring that the change is identified, the impact is analyzed, and the key stakeholders are communicated with.

Since the Video Game Delivery project will receive assistance from ABC Corp. for developing a Web-based application, and from Edsys consulting firm for the creation and implementation of a marketing strategy, the project manager will ensure that key members from these companies along with the project sponsor are aware of any changes that arise and kept in loop throughout the life of the change control period and the entirety of the project.